U.Va. football struggles to earn passing grade at midpoint of season

October 17, 2013|By Norm Wood, nwood@dailypress.com

As Virginia heads for the second half of its schedule, coach Mike London is charged with getting his downtrodden program back into a winning frame of mind on the heels of last weekend's demoralizing 27-26 loss at Maryland.

It's no small feat.

"It's all about redirecting your energies and focusing on the task at hand," said London on Wednesday.

"You can wring your hands about (missed opportunities), or you can turn and focus your energies on what's ahead, correcting those type of things, knowing that, listen, we're a play away, a play or two away from just having these opportunities be on the plus side for us."

Here's a look at what U.Va. (2-4 overall, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) has done to this point, and its midseason report card prior to Saturday's game against Duke (4-2, 0-2):

Offense

Though the running game behind Kevin Parks has been good (188.8 yards per game), and Hampton High graduate quarterback David Watford looked much more comfortable against Maryland (completing 27 of 44 passes for 263 yards and a touchdown), U.Va. is still last in the ACC and 104th in the nation among 123 Football Bowl Subdivision programs in turnovers lost (14). No team in the ACC has popped fewer big plays than U.Va. (16 plays of 20-plus yards), which is 10th in the ACC and 85th in the nation in total offense (375.5 yards per game). By completing 59.5 percent of his passes for 1,076 yards, four touchdowns and seven interceptions, Watford is leading the ACC's least efficient passing game. Inconsistency and injuries on the offensive line haven't helped Watford. U.Va. has scored touchdowns on just 50 percent (11 of 22) of its trips in the red zone (12th in the ACC), which is a big reason why the Cavaliers are 13th in the ACC in scoring offense (22.3 points per game) under offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild. Other than tight end Jake McGee (27 catches for 233 yards and two touchdowns), a dependable group of receiving targets for Watford has yet to emerge.

Grade: D

Defense

Strong efforts against Brigham Young (362 yards, which was 111 yards below its average per game) and Pittsburgh (199 yards and seven sacks of Panthers' quarterback Tom Savage) provided highlights for a U.Va. defense that has otherwise been inconsistent. Maryland (332 yards passing, 468 total yards) and Ball State (346 yards passing, 506 total yards) hurt U.Va. through the air, even though it should be mentioned the Cavaliers were missing starting cornerback Demetrious Nicholson in the Maryland game. Oregon put up 59 points and 557 yards against U.Va., which is 39th in the nation in total defense (361.8 yards per game), but the Ducks do that to almost everybody. Defensive tackle Brent Urban (eight pass breakups, 7 1/2 tackles for loss) was having an All-ACC caliber season before he went down with a lower extremity injury against Maryland. Defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta's pressure-based scheme has generated 17 sacks, which is sixth in the ACC. U.Va. is 10th in the conference in red-zone defense (opponents have scored on 87 percent of red zone trips), but no team has given up more touchdowns (15) in the red zone or more trips to the red zone (23) by opponents than the Cavaliers.

Grade: B-

Special teams

Tough to come down too hard on Alec Vozenilek, who is averaging 41.9 yards per punt, for missing a 42-yard field goal in the waning seconds against Maryland. He was filling in for the injured Ian Frye. U.Va. had one terrible gaffe in the return game at a particularly bad time. A muffed punt by Dominique Terrell gave Pittsburgh the ball in the red zone, leading to a Panthers touchdown in a game where points were scarce. U.Va. has been less prone to muffed punts this season, but it's still not getting anything spectacular out of the return game. Terrell is averaging 9.3 yards per punt return, and Darius Jennings is averaging a solid 24.1 yards per kick return. U.Va. is tied for the national lead with two blocked punts, and it's second with three blocked kicks. U.Va. is giving up 5.08 yards per punt return (37th in the nation), and 20.05 yards per kickoff return (44th in the nation).

Grade: C

Coaching

After undergoing wholesale changes in the coordinator roles in the offseason, in addition to adding Tom O'Brien to the offensive staff and Larry Lewis as the new special teams coordinator, it hasn't resulted in win-loss improvement. London and Fairchild also have drawn criticism from fans for play-calling down the stretch against Maryland (i.e., settling for a moderate-to-long range field-goal attempt instead of trying to pick up more yards). Getting back to respectability after last season's 4-8 finish was going to take more than one season, but U.Va. hasn't shown it's trending up to this point. With Georgia Tech, Clemson, Miami and Virginia Tech still on the schedule, finding enough wins in the last six games to get bowl-eligible will be a behemoth task for U.Va.